t, and only gave proof of their
existence as they occasionally strewed sweet-scented herbs and forest
flowers on a litter of fragrant plants that, under a pall of Indian
robes, supported all that now remained of the ardent, high-souled,
and generous Cora. Her form was concealed in many wrappers of the same
simple manufacture, and her face was shut forever from the gaze of
men. At her feet was seated the desolate Munro. His aged head was
bowed nearly to the earth, in compelled submission to the stroke of
Providence; but a hidden anguish struggled about his furrowed brow,
that was only partially concealed by the careless locks of gray that
had fallen, neglected, on his temples. Gamut stood at his side, his
meek head bared to the rays of the sun, while his eyes, wandering and
concerned, seemed to be equally divided between that little volume,
which contained so many quaint but holy maxims, and the being in whose
behalf his soul yearned to administer consolation. Heyward was also
nigh, supporting himself against a tree, and endeavoring to keep down
those sudden risings of sorrow that it required his utmost manhood to
subdue.

But sad and melancholy as this group may easily be imagined, it was far
less touching than another, that occupied the opposite space of the same
area. Seated, as in life, with his form and limbs arranged in grave and
decent composure, Uncas appeared, arrayed in the most gorgeous ornaments
that the wealth of the tribe could furnish. Rich plumes nodded above
his head; wampum, gorgets, bracelets, and medals, adorned his person
in profusion; though his dull eye and vacant lineaments too strongly
contradicted the idle tale of pride they would convey.

Directly in front of the corpse Chingachgook was placed, without arms,
paint or adornment of any sort, except the bright blue blazonry of his
race, that was indelibly impressed on his naked bosom. During the long
period that the tribe had thus been collected, the Mohican warrior had
kept a steady, anxious look on the cold and senseless countenance of his
son. So riveted and intense had been that gaze, and so changeless his
attitude, that a stranger might not have told the living from the dead,
but for the occasional gleamings of a troubled spirit, that shot athwart
the dark visage of one, and the deathlike calm that had forever settled
on the lineaments of the other. The scout was hard by, leaning in a
pensive posture on his own fatal and avenging weapon; whi